New Traditions
This year, the boys and I are trying out what may become a new Thanksgiving tradition for our family. The “big family” — my grandmother, my parents, me and my brothers, their wives, and all of our kids — got together for Thanksgiving dinner last weekend at Mom and Dad’s. I spent Saturday acting as Mom’s sous chef, and we all spent Sunday eating lunch, playing games, and enjoying the family.
So today it’s just me and the kids. We decided to have a “little Thanksgiving.” We slept in this morning and then had French toast and sausages for breakfast. Now we’ve got a semi-traditional Thanksgiving meal in the works. There’s an 8-pound turkey roasting in the oven, but no stuffing. The kids wanted wild rice pilaf instead. So we’re having wild rice pilaf, fried kale, and pan-fried brussels sprouts with parmesan cheese for lunch, with peach cobbler for dessert. And for supper, we’ll have my special “poor man’s steak” with onion gravy, kohlrabi and mushrooms, roast beets and carrots.
The rest of the day, chores, i-devices, and single-person computer games are banned. (I’m writing this on my computer while we watch Disney’s “The Swiss Family Robinson.”) We’ll play board games, watch DVDs, and generally goof off until their dad picks them up tonight to spend the rest of the weekend with him.
Food, fun, family, and no chores or distractions. If we decide we like it, I don’t think it’s a bad tradition to start.
On Eating Out
Dear Restaurants: I like to eat out. I’m told that I have a sophisticated, well-trained palate. And rather high standards. Many of my friends consider me the go-to girl for eatery recommendations. So I’m going to tell you what I like to see, just so you know.
- Fresh, high-quality ingredients. Preferably seasonal, local, and organic. But at least the first two. Brown, wilted lettuce, gristly steak, and tasteless, sponge-like tomatoes are a BIG turn-off.
- Consistent menu. I’ll give you a pass on this one only if your menu changes with the seasons. Otherwise, don’t constantly change what is on the menu so that I never know what to expect. And don’t disappoint me when I come in for my favourite dish by telling me it’s no longer on the menu.
- Attentive service. I need to have confidence that I’m going to get what I ordered and that it’s going to be delivered with a smile. I should never have to request a drink refill. And I should never wait more than ten minutes for the check once I’ve asked for it.
- Choice. PLEASE have more sides than potatoes prepared six different ways. Some of us can’t eat potatoes. Or bread. Let me choose among some green things, some starchy things, and some other colourful vegetable things. There’s a lot out there to choose from. And please allow me to substitute one thing for another without excessive upcharges.
- Transparency. I’m not asking for a cookbook with all your recipes, and since you’re not a fast-food joint, I don’t even expect nutritional information. But disclosure of known allergens would be nice. It would also be nice if servers could answer basic questions like “Is there sugar in that?” and “What kind of oil do you use in this dish?” (Just for the record … some of us are allergic to canola oil. I want to know so I can avoid it. Thanks.)
- Cleanliness. You would think that clean dishes and tables would be obvious, but you’ve no idea how many times I’ve sat down to a meal and had to ask for a clean fork, or sent my water back because there is dirt on the outside of the glass — or, worse, flotsam in the water. Ugh. But it’s not just those obvious things. I also look for clean, uncluttered tables and clean, sanitary bathrooms. Oh, and if I want my feet to stick to the floor (or make crunchy noises when I walk), I’ll go eat dinner at the movie theatre.
- Originality. If I can make it at home, why should I pay you $25 a plate for it? If every steak house in town serves garlic mash, maybe you should offer something different?
There are other things, of course, that will get you a recommendation from me — absolute first being well-prepared, tasty food. But if you pay attention to these things, you’ll have a good start at being on my recommendations list.
Low Carb Keeps Me Healthy
I get a lot of flak about my diet. I eat low-carb most of the time. Not super-strict, like Atkins — though I’ve done the Atkins Diet and liked it pretty well — but more a “careful carb choice” approach.
I eat far less bread and fewer grain products than most people I know. I avoid starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn, as well as sweet vegetables like carrots and peas. I don’t eat beans. My vegetables tend toward the green, leafy kind. Or the bright, crunchy kind. Kale, spinach, bell peppers, tomatoes, all kinds of lettuce ….
I eat lots of meat. And more fat than most people. Olive oil, coconut oil, butter, nut oils, and sesame oils are “frequent flyers” in my cooking pans.
I eat very little sugar. Fruit, especially berries, pomegranate, mango, or melon, is my dessert. Some peanut M&Ms once in a while. A Cappuccino Blast as an occasional treat. A slab of high-quality dark chocolate is my “naughty” pleasure. But no soda, no candy (except the M&Ms), none of that stuff. I make sugar-free desserts occasionally, when I want something sweet for after dinner.
I don’t count calories. I don’t count fat grams. I consider carb grams.
And I eat a topsy-turvy meal plan compared to most Americans. Breakfast is my biggest, most calorie-dense meal, with lunch a close second. Both of those meals may be as much as 1000 calories apiece. Supper is small and frugal, often only 500 calories or so. I seldom snack between meals — I don’t need to. The fat in my meals keeps me satiated until the next one. Since the typical American eats a small breakfast and lunch, and a large dinner, my meal plan puts me in the “odd” category.
So I get a lot of flak, especially from people who don’t know that most of my excess weight is due to several rounds of steroids that I had to take in the last few years. Steroid weight is second only to baby weight when it comes to being hard to get the pounds off. And since I’m 100 pounds overweight, well, I get a lot of flak.
A lot of people also assume that I’m terribly unhealthy. I’m not. Besides the avoirdupois and some serious allergies that cause a constant, chronic cough, I’m actually quite fit. And I can prove it, thanks to my doctor’s recent decision to do a complete blood workup and lipid profile on me.
Most people who are very overweight, like me, have high blood pressure. My blood pressure stays pretty steadily around 120 over 70, which is what it was when I was 16, weighed 100 pounds, and ran ten miles a day.
Most people who are morbidly obese, like me, have high cholesterol. My doctor did a lipid profile and my results are excellent:
- Overall cholesterol 143 ….. (good is less than 200)
- HDL (good) cholesterol 46 ….. (good is anything above 40)
- LDL (bad) cholesterol 74 ….. (good is less than 130)
- Triglycerides 115 ….. (good is less than 150)
The average coronary risk for women in my age group is 4.44.
Mine is 3.11.
Most people who are as overweight as I am are also diabetic. I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2008. But I do not take insulin or any diabetic medication at all. My diet keeps the diabetes well under control. The proof is in my A1C test, which came back with a 5.7. Diabetics are doing well if they keep their A1C under 7.0.
AND my estimated average blood glucose came back at 116.9. Since I test it only once a week and it invariably shows between 85 and 90, my doctor tells me that I’m to keep on doing whatever I am doing, because it’s working.
Oh, and for those who keep telling me that I’m going to kill my kidneys with my high-protein diet: my BUN is 19 (normal is between 7 and 25), and my creatinine is .98 (normal is .6 to 1.3). My kidneys are very happy — probably in part because I don’t tax them with coffee and soda, but instead give them at least three-quarters of a gallon of water a day.
Obviously, my diet works for me. I am slowly losing the steroid weight and all of my important health indicators are outrageously excellent. And that’s the only confirmation I need. Low-carb keeps me healthy.
Life Lessons: Name Brand vs. Store Brand
As we’re on the way home from the movie tonight, I learn that #1 Son drank all the milk with his supper tonight. I was planning to use that milk to make pancakes tomorrow, so we need to stop and get some on our way home. I pull into the CashSaver near our house and give #1 Son five dollars, telling him that should be plenty to cover it. #1 Son runs inside and comes out a few minutes later with a gallon of milk and a receipt.
“It was $5.14!” he says as he climbs into the car. I give him fourteen cents and send him back into the store, while I try to figure out how I’m saving at this place when I can get Great Value (GV) milk (the store brand) for $2.94 a gallon at Wal-Mart. Then I see that #1 Son has bought Turner Quality Checked (TQC) milk, which is about $4 a gallon at Wal-Mart … the same price as this so-called CashSaver place. (So the only thing I saved is the gas it takes to get to the Wal-Mart, which is 10 minutes from home, while CashSaver is three minutes from home.)
#1 Son returns to the car and we head for home. I ask if they had any other brand of milk.
“Yeah, but I don’t trust those off brands. They aren’t as good.”
So, knowing that we’ve been drinking GV brand for more than a year now, I asked him what was the difference (besides a couple bucks a gallon).
“Turner is fresher, so it tastes better.”
“Oh,” I said, “Wanna bet?” He should know that when I say those words, he’s about to get a life lesson.
When we got home, I set up a blind taste test for both boys. I sent them off to put on their pajamas while I set everything up, so they couldn’t see what I was up to.
I had a quart of GV milk I bought last weekend, and the gallon of TQC that we’d just bought. (RISKY! Week-old store-brand milk vs. fresh-bought name brand!) I put a quarter of a cup of GV milk in each of two clear glasses. I put a quarter of a cup of TQC milk in each of two fancy coffee cups. Then I called the boys.
Right off, #1 Son points out that they each need a glass of water to rinse their mouths between samples, or it won’t be a fair test. So we get glasses of water for each of them.
I tell them to drink from each cup, and then tell me which one they like best, and which one they think is the TQC milk.
#1 Son goes first. He drinks, rinses, drinks. Considers. Tells me his choice and which cup has TQC in it. #2 Son follows suit.
Both boys tell me that the clear glass is the best-tasting, and that it is obviously the TQC milk. I tell them they are wrong! The TQC was in the fancy cup, and the plain old Wal-Mart milk was in the plain old glass. #1 Son practically accuses me of lying.
I look him straight in the eye and say, “When have I EVER lied to you? About ANYTHING?”
“Well … never. But you might have forgotten. Or gotten mixed up.”
“Nope. I wrote it down, on this piece of paper. See?” And I show them the piece of paper where I had written “glass: GV; mug: TQC.”
#1 Son mumbles something about it not being fair that I’m always right, and wanders off, shaking his head. #2 Son asks how I know all this stuff. I tell him that I experiment, all the time, to make sure I’m spending my money wisely. There’s no point in paying an extra $2 a gallon if I’m not going to be able to taste the difference.
There are very few things that I pay extra for the name brand for. Campbell’s condensed cream soups (for making casseroles), yes. BP gasoline, yes. One or two prescription drugs. But other than that, I’m content with store brands or generics. Once I’ve tested them and they’ve proven to work, taste, and/or perform just as well as the name brand, then they’ve got me. Because I don’t have a penny to waste. Not even on something as trivial as milk. Although, come to think of it, at $4/gallon, milk’s not trivial anymore. It’s right up there with the petrol I put in my car.
Some Thoughts on Christianity
I have discovered a new author whose works I like … at least as far as I’ve read in them. And since what I read today has a lot of relevance to yesterday’s post on baptism, I want to share some excerpts from T. D. Jakes’s Help Me, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up. (Comments in brackets are my own, to clarify, since I’m excerpting and not quoting the entire chapter verbatim.)
Stubborn and hard-headed, Saul [the one who became the Apostle Paul] insisted on doing things his own way. After all, he was intelligent, capable, religious — and proud of it! As a result, it took a dramatic move of God to knock Saul off his “high horse.”
….
God was saying, “Saul, why do you kick against the pricks?” In other words … why do you insist on doing things your own way without first consulting Me?Is the Lord asking you the same question … the American translation puts it this way, “Why do you allow yourself to continue to run into brick walls?”
These brick walls represent sin and rebellion. … No matter how sane and rational the sin may seem to you, sin is sin.
Sin always separates us from the presence of God. What a price to pay for wanting things our own way!
….
At the same time that Saul thought he had reached his darkest hour, God was preparing a main named Ananias to minister to Saul.
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If you are in a place where you need God’s divine assistance, ask God to send someone to help you. There may already be people in your life who are available to bring healing and deliverance to you. You must, however, be willing to submit, as Saul did, to their ministry. Don’t fight divine connections!
…
Some of you may be [like a wounded animal that attacks those who want to help it, due to fear] … People who have called themselves Chrsitans have done hurtful things to you. … It seems to hurt far worse because these people professed to love the Lord.You may have been hurt to such an extent that you no longer trust anybody, not even God.
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God wants to deliver you! He wants to arrest every … demonic spirit in your life — every demonic power, every type of sorcery, every hex, every spirit of unbelief, every spirit of doubt, every spirit of pride. God wants you set free, now!
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Why do you continue in this fallen state? What more does the Lord have to do or say to show you He loves you? Don’t let satan continue to fool you into thinking that God has forsaken you.Stop blaming others for your mistakes. Realize and admit that there is something wrong with you. Quit being mad at everyone and stop trying to adjust the whole world to fit your circumstances.
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Repent and confess your sins instead of spending your time pointing out the sins of everyone else. Admit that you have fallen so that your healing may begin.
So many times, I do just this. I dwell on what others have done to hurt me, what circumstances have impeded my pursuit of goals and dreams, and what mistakes I have made, and I fail to admit that I screwed up.
I think it’s Alcoholics Anonymous that says that the first step to healing is to admit that you have a problem. It is so hard to do that. And then it is even harder to be humble enough to accept help, correction, and instruction from other people. I don’t want people to think I’m dumb, ignorant, or foolish. I want to look capable and pulled-together and competent. Even when I know I’m not.
Anyway, this chapter really whacked me between the eyes today, and I know that I’m not the only one struggling with this. So I offer it to you, my friends, in case you are someone who may benefit from these thoughts.
Thoughts on Baptism
A friend of mine who is exploring faith asked, “If salvation is a gift of God, not of ourselves, so that no one can boast, then is baptism a part of grace or part of works or neither? Or is it part of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.)? Can you be saved and not be baptized?” I answered my friend, and have expanded on my thoughts here.
Baptism is neither works nor grace, it is an outward sign of obedience to an inward change of ownership. When you believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, placing your trust in Him as the one who can reconcile you to God, you are saved.
Being “saved” means that you have told God that you accept Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, and that you ask God to see you through Christ’s blood — Jesus’s blood covers your sin so that God sees you as righteous. (One way I like to put it is that the only thing that saves me is that Jesus covers all my faults with His righteousness, so that God sees me through “Jesus-coloured glasses.”)
If you are deeply in debt and have before you a lifetime of working hard to pay off your debt while scrimping and saving to meet your absolute needs, and someone else comes along and says, here, I will pay off all that debt for you so that your paycheck is now your own …. you’re going to feel profoundly grateful. Your life will change — not just by virtue of the fact that you don’t have to be a wage-slave so that you can meet your obligations, but also because of your gratitude to the person who bailed you out.
Becoming a Christian is like that. You were separated from God because of your sinfulness, and you owed God a debt you could not pay. Jesus said, “I will pay the debt for you so that you can be reconciled to God.” And once you accept His stepping in to pay your debt, the question for you is: What form will your gratitude take?
Will you just say Okay, thanks, and take the gift and be done with it? Or will you allow the gift to change your life? Will you seek to show that same sacrificial love to others? Will you seek to make the one who bailed you out your model? Because that is what becoming a Christian really means. It’s not so much about getting that debt paid as it is about making the One who paid the debt your master.
When you accept Jesus’s sacrifice for you, you give Him a claim on your life. He has paid for you; you now belong to Him. Baptism acknowledges that claim publicly. We are baptised in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, as an outward sign that He has bought us and that we now belong to Him — it is our acknowledgement that He is now Master in our lives. Baptism is a step of obedience in following Jesus, who, though He was God Himself, was humble enough to ask a man to baptise him so that He would fulfill the teaching of Scripture.
In many ways, baptism is a symbol of your own death and resurrection. The immersion in the water symbolizes the death and burial of the old person who is controlled by their sin nature and who worships itself as the most important thing in the world. The rising up from the water symbolizes the cleaned and resurrected soul returning to a life that is given back to it. A life in which it follows a new Master.
Baptism is also a step toward humility. It says to the world that you choose to take yourself off the throne of your life and let someone else direct your life. It says that you are not too full of pride to submit to a ritual that countless thousands have undergone before you … including the One who paid your debt. It shows that you do not think that you, the servant, are better than Jesus, the Master.
Baptism is no more necessary to salvation than putting on clothes is necessary to life. A newborn won’t die if you don’t clothe it. But to leave it naked is to leave it outside the community. Clothes demonstrate our status and position; they give protection and demonstrate our obedience to societal standards.
Likewise, refusing or neglecting baptism leaves one outside the Christian community. Baptism shows that you are willing to obey Christ. It is a public statement that you now choose not to be in charge of your own life, but that you make Christ the Lord of your life. It aligns you with all of the other Christians in the world, for whom baptism was the rite of passage into a new life.
Baptism is one of the sacraments by which God ministers grace to us. To refuse it or neglect it is to refuse a measure of God’s grace. In the Methodist confirmation ritual, we tell the confirmands to “remember your baptism and be glad.” Baptism gives a person a specific point in time to look back to when faith wavers or when circumstances cause them to doubt their salvation, so that they can say with confidence, “I AM a child of God, cleansed from unrighteousness and worthy to approach my Father God with my needs and desires.”
Baptism is also a time for making your private transactions with God public. It’s like marriage: the boy and girl have already said their “yes” to the relationship — the marriage ceremony is simply when they stand before witnesses to make those promises public and binding. Once you’ve said vows before witnesses, there’s no more “he said, she said” if things don’t work out. Because someone else heard what the two of you said — it’s “official” in a way that a common-law marriage is not.
In the rite of baptism in most churches, the candidate for baptism confirms that they are rejecting sin and evil, that they will keep God’s will and His commandments, and that they affirm the Christian Faith (usually with reference to the Apostle’s Creed). Thus, baptism is like a wedding ceremony between the Believer and the Church. You might say that someone who neglects or refuses it “has commitment issues.”
If you are a Believer — that is, if you are a person who claims to be a Christian — if you claim that Jesus is your Saviour, but you resist the idea of getting baptized, then it’s important to figure out why. Is it pride — you don’t want to do some silly ritual in front of a bunch of people? Is it rebellion — you don’t really WANT to put someone else in charge of your life, but you want to keep calling the shots?
If you are claiming to be something, but you refuse even the most basic observances that are called for, then are you really what you claim to be? Don’t ask me, because it’s not my place to judge. That’s between you and God. But if you still have resistance to this simple act of obedience, you need to talk to God about it and ask Him to help you overcome your resistance to His instructions.
The last thing that Jesus said before He returned to Heaven was to tell His followers: Go, and teach all nations, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all of the things that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20) He commanded it. If you wish to truly follow Him, then it seems that your commitment should be sealed with baptism.